City looks to create new regulations for lagoon

Standup paddle boards lie on the beach as Garth Davis carries his up to the shore Ben S as they spent the day on the beach at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon, near Bayshore Drive, in Carlsbad on Wednesday.
Hayne Palmour IV

CARLSBAD  The Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad has become so popular with paddle boarders and other visitors in recent years that neighbors have started to complain about trash, parking and unlicensed equipment rentals.

During summer weekends, the north shore of the lagoon attracts crowds who bring along their pets and water vessels, neighbors say. Those visitors often leave behind trash, dog waste and even beer cans.

After residents urged the city to take action, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to study what new regulations may be needed for the lagoon, which is south of Tamarack Avenue off Interstate 5.

“What we’re saying is respectful use of the area is fine but what we’re experiencing is total disrespect,” said Charlie Hearn, member of the Bayshore home owners association on Bayshore Drive, one of the main public entrances to the lagoon.

Hearn said some visitors have allowed their dogs on the association’s pond and some people have been seen urinating in public. He said the area is not set up to accommodate so many people because it doesn’t have parking facilities or any public restrooms.

New rules are needed to address those problems, he said.

Matt Poth, owner of 2 Stand Up Guys, a business that provides paddle boarding lessons in the lagoon, said he supports additional regulations as long as they are uniformly enforced. He said his company conducts business by appointment only.

“I’ve seen in the last five years the popularity of this lagoon skyrocket,” Poth told the council. “I’d like to see some kind of control and safety universally applied.”

City officials say the lagoon is especially difficult to regulate because it’s been designated by the state as a “public navigable waterway” and is subject to overlapping state and city laws.

The lagoon is actually owned by San Diego Gas & Electric but the utility leased the section east of the freeway to the city in the late 1950s to use as a recreational area.

Since then, the city has issued licenses to California Watersports, which operates a boat rental business, and a few other businesses. It also granted the Bristol Cove Property Owners Association private access to the lagoon.

Mick Calarco, the city’s recreation services manager, said the city is aware of several transient paddle boarding businesses operating in the lagoon without a license. But current city regulations make it difficult to prevent them because it’s not clear whether those regulations apply on the water, he said.

“The question about permitting is a very interesting one,” Calarco said. “There is a section in city code that addresses commercial use but we’re not certain that that extends into the water’s surface.”

The code says it applies to “beach areas bordering the (lagoon)” but makes no reference to the water itself, he said.

City officials said they have taken steps to address other concerns by increasing police and staff presence at the lagoon during peak times, Calarco said. They have also painted curbs, posted informational signs and offered onsite vessel permitting.

Hearn said the city needs to do more because people are visiting the lagoon year round, not just during the summer. And even though there are signs, people swim in the lagoon, let their dogs run without a leash and leave trash behind.

“On the weekends, especially around the holidays, it’s crazy,” Hearn said. “It’s chaos with dogs running without a leash, people swimming, alcohol on the beach, boats beached."

He said not all of it happens at once but “every ordinance that they have is broken.”